Doug Hyde, with his wide lens and clear eye, draws us in through his meticulous observation of both nature and human nature. He shows us what it feels like to climb a mountain, to note bird songs or a returning nesting squirrel, or to feel the poignancy of intimate engagement with those he loves. The love poems seem lit from within. There is puckish humor here too, as when he manages to get a granddaughter to behave at table or to wear clothes while helping to build a wall. There is also loss in the lived experience recounted, as when love is temporarily lost until a bridge can be rebuilt. In the face of life's inevitable losses, Hyde's poems offer solace: "And so we persevere . . . measuring our days." He tells "heart's truth," and our souls are nourished as if we'd spent time with an especially wise and observant friend.

One of the many pleasures of Douglas Hyde's Footnotes is the quiet, perceptive, and inviting conversational voice that powers the poems, guiding readers through a sharply detailed landscape of people and places. Rich images, poignant insights, and witty narratives about familiar experiences beguile and coax us to a fascinating interplay of the intellect and the senses, the provocative and the downright entertaining.